Someone hearing those words might have had to search the archives to determine whether the Comets' fifth consecutive and most complete victory of 2006 was reminiscent of the Houston teams that dominated the WNBA in its early years.

Defense was the Comets' hallmark then, and defense was dominant Sunday. Sheryl Swoopes put the clamps on No. 1 draft pick Seimone Augustus early on, setting the tone for the game. She controlled Augustus enough that the Lynx, after setting a WNBA record with 114 points in a victory over Los Angeles last week and averaging close to 100 points a game, did well to break 60.

Augustus scored 26 points in the Lynx's 114-71 pasting of the Sparks and followed that with 31 in a come-from-behind win over Indiana on Friday night. And with Dominique Canty guarding her at the start of Sunday's game, Augustus was headed in the same direction.

Change in strategy

After Augustus scored Minnesota's first six points, Canty gave way to Swoopes, who was the league's defensive player of the year in 2000.

Swoopes was involved in a collision midway the fourth period with the Lynx's Vanessa Hayden — a 6-4, 250-pound backup center — and had to leave the game because of a back injury. Her availability is described as day-to-day.

By the time she left, the Comets had destroyed Minnesota's rhythm, gone ahead by as many as 23 points and pointed the Lynx to their fourth loss.

"That was one of the best games I've ever seen the Comets play," coach Van Chancellor said. "Five players in double figures, five starters. (But) the player that I thought was truly, truly outstanding for us tonight, gritty, hard-nosed, was Sheryl Swoopes.

"When you look up out there and say, 'Van, how can you not say that Michelle Snow had (24 points) and nine rebounds?' That was great. But I thought that Sheryl did a really good job on Seimone."

Snow was outstanding, scoring a career high while snaring a game-high nine rebounds as the Comets thrashed the Lynx on the boards 39-28.

But Swoopes was invaluable, scoring 13 points on 6-for-14 shooting and getting eight rebounds and six assists.

After Augustus, who finished with 20, scored the first six Minnesota points, Chancellor made the defensive switch.

Augustus had only two more points by halftime. By then, the Comets had taken control behind double-figure scoring from all five starters.

None stood out more than the 6-5 Snow, whose penchant for foul trouble in the first five games cut significantly into her minutes. She tried a new tack before Sunday.

"I just took a couple of days off from all the extra workouts to let my body recover," she said. "And obviously, it worked. Sometimes you've got to rest, instead of overdoing it."

Everybody pitches in

Snow often used her jump-step move to soar above the defense and swish a jumper. And
Tina Thompson
stood behind the 3-point line and made the Lynx pay from there. She was 4-for-7 and scored 16 points. Canty, one of the best penetrators in the WNBA, added 12 points.

Even Dawn Staley reached double figures (13 points) for the first time this season.

"When you get on a win streak, you don't want the streak to end," Staley said. "And we knew this was a dangerous basketball team because they can score a lot of points, (and) they've got a player who virtually take over a game and score a lot of baskets and points.

"We just wanted to let our defense do what it's been doing for the past couple of weeks, and (we) continued to hit shots. It was a complete game on everybody's part."